Before After

CHAPTER VI

Chapter VI

You’re Oblivious

“MISS Birner, I can’t do this!” Just before their class started, she was more than determined to tell Miss Birner that she was backing out of the contest. But when she was already there, relating to the science teacher the speech she had prepared beforehand, it was like she suddenly lost her once firm stand. She had told the teacher her alibis, minus the real reason why she would never make a good team with Kaiser, but once Miss Fate thwarted the reasoning she had prepared and then convinced her once more, all the reasons she had vanished like a vapor in the thin air. She couldn’t say no to her. Looking at the teacher’s eyes, while she was saying how they needed Wendy’s natural inclination and intelligence in Science, she felt like she was in a trance and the only way to be out of that spell was to agree.

Now, she regretted the decision she had made. Because she knew those two hours in two months' time would always seem an uncomfortable forever. And the real reason why they were summoned as a team would be pointless. How could they make a good team when they disgust each other’s guts? How could they possibly win the Science Quiz Bee when she didn’t even trust this rude, incomprehensible, and heartless emperor? How could they work in camaraderie when she loathed him more for doing what he did yesterday?

Staring every once in a while at her wrist watch, she was silently counting every movement of the hands of the clock, wishing that the two-hour extension at school would be over soon. She was currently sitting face-to-face with Kaiser with those thick science books serving as the walls that separated them. They were both quiet; the ticking of the clock and the flipping book pages were the mere noises present between the two of them. But the atmosphere was never a peaceful silence. Wendy felt too uncomfortable with his presence. While the books he was reading seemed to eat all his attention, she, on the other hand, couldn’t disguise her distraction by reading the books. She couldn’t digest the lessons they were supposed to review today, nor could she even read a word properly.

“Can you quit staring at your watch and the wall clock?” She heard Kaiser told her, his voice sounded both stern and uninterested at the same time. “And stop biting your fingernails.”

Those words snatched her from her reverie. And instantaneously, she stopped on what she was absent-mindedly doing. She stared at him with those piercing eyes, feeling the sudden rise of irritation in her system. Just hearing his voice doubled her abhorrence for him. And finally decoding what his words meant tripled her hatred.

Noticing the way she stared at him, Kaiser quitted reading the book, and gave her the same intense stare she was giving him. Now, they were suddenly into a staring competition no one wouldn’t want to be defeated to. His cold dark eyes which imposed dominance over her sent a chilling sensation down her spine, but which she didn’t entertained. He really looked like a monster to her. His dashing physical features were not compatible to his rotting attitude.

“Stop idling and focus on the review. Losing is not in my dictionary,” he said in a manner which automatically turned as an insult to her. Her brows shot up.

“So you mean I’m gonna make you lose?” She couldn’t help but to say. She knew the rules she imposed on herself, that is, to hide herself on the leaves. She knew she must stop herself and her big and frank mouth. But when it comes to Kaiser, she always tended to break them. Because he was just so frustratingly irritating, and her inner warrior couldn’t just take it in.

“Yes, if you’ll continue acting that way.”

And what about the way you act? Who are you to tell me what to do, Mr. Aldeguer.”

A small smirk crept up his lips. His eyes dazzled for a moment, like he was amused, but his face didn’t give away much of his real emotions. For Wendy, Kaiser was like a mysterious puzzle so concealed and unfathomable. She loathed him, but at the same time, she was intrigued by him.

“Who am I?” Kaiser repeated her question, slowly drawing himself near her. She stared at him with crumpled forehead, her brows almost making one line. “Don’t you know the answer, Miss Kirst?” he asked. He supported his face with his arm that was resting on the table, giving her a full view of his face.

She stared at his eyes directly, showing him that she’d never back down to the game he was starting to play. “Oh right!” she said exaggeratedly. Then she laughed sardonically. “You’re the Kaiser Aldeguer. You can do everything you want. You can control everything you want to control. You can even kick me out as your partner here in this competition, right? You know what, why don’t you just tell that to Miss Birner so we’ll put an end to all of this, huh?”

“Why should I do that?” he said with a smirk. He moved nearer to her. “The fun is just starting.”

She felt her blood boil with extreme irritation. She clenched her fist, fighting the urge to punch this man in front of her. ‘Keep calm, Wendy. Keep calm. Remember, you’re a grasshopper. Don’t make a scene. Don’t expose yourself,’ her sane part chanted over and over again. But there was a burden inside her she couldn’t just keep.

“How dare you!” she hissed at him, her eyes shooting daggers. “I’m not a toy that could humor you! People around you are not puppets that you can easily toy with. Do you even have a heart? Do you even know what empathy means? Do you even understand that those people you’re playing with have lives, and it’s their lives you’re messing with?! Do you even realize the feeling of those people living their lives like they are under your mercy? I’m telling you, it’s not a good feeling. It’s beyond suffocating!” she said, her heart swelled with heaviness she couldn’t contain anymore.

Kaiser continued staring at her like he heard nothing. He was just staring at her. No emotions, no irritating smirks, no insulting and threatening words. Staring alone. And she felt haunted by those eyes. She felt haunted even though she was the one who gave a long monologue. She felt haunted even when she knew that what she said was right. She felt haunted, and that frustrated her. Because she couldn’t discern why she felt affected. Because she couldn’t comprehend why she seemed to see depth in those uninterested eyes of his. It was like she wanted to ask who he really was and what was he thinking about. There was a part of her who craved to know and predict him, but a larger portion of her loathed him for the character that he was portraying.

And besides, there was no reason for her to try and predict him. That was not her reason why she was here. It was clear that she should disassociate herself to people like him. It would not just do her any good. She was here for an entirely different purpose. And she abhorred him.

She felt Kaiser’s strong hand enveloped her wrist, pulling her near him. It was somehow tight and forceful and she felt pain on her wrist.

“Wendy Kirst,” Kaiser mentioned her name in a tone she couldn’t discern but brought a chilling sensation down her spine. “Who are you?” His voice was like commanding her to stare straightly at his deep-set brown orbs.

“Who are you to question me and even assume for my own feelings when you don’t know me at all? Trust me, you’re oblivious on what you’re talking about.”

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